Saturday, July 06, 2013

The George Sanders Show: Episode Two - Dead Man and Ride Lonesome


Rather than talk about thus week's blockbuster The Lone Ranger, Mike and I decided to chat about another, undoubtedly better, Johnny Depp Western, Jim Jarmusch's Dead Man. We've paired it with Budd Boetticher's Randolph Scott collaboration Ride Lonesome, from 1959.

Between reviews we spend some time talking about the representations of Native Americans in Hollywood, specifically in Westerns and in relation to my apparently controversial review of the documentary These Amazing Shadows.

We also discuss the career of character actor Lee Van Cleef and our most essential movies about loneliness.

All this can be found at our website, on twitter or you can subscribe on iTunes.

Tuesday, July 02, 2013

This Week in Rankings


In the two weeks since the last rankings update, I've managed to complete more podcasts than written reviews. The Jane Campion episode of They Shot Pictures went up a couple days ago, covering An Angel at My Table, Portrait of a Lady and Top of the Lake. The Sammo Hung episode of TSP will be posted this weekend, discussing Magnificent Butcher, Wheels on Meals and Pedicab Driver. I also started a new podcast with my old Metro Classics compatriot Mike, The George Sanders Show. The first episode posted last weekend, on Fritz Lang's The Big Heat and Johnnie To's Drug War. This'll be a weekly show, with Budd Boetticher's Ride Lonesome and Jim Jarmsuch's Dead Man scheduled for this week's show. You can follow both shows on twitter (@GeoSandersShow and @TSP_Podcast), in addition to following me personally @TheEndofCinema.

The two reviews I did write are for Huang Feng's Hapkido and Lau Kar-leung's Dirty Ho, two more entries in the Summer of Sammo. The rest of my reviews related to this dive into Hong Kong genre cinema are now compiled into the Summer of Sammo Index, now conveniently located in the link sidebar on every page. I added a new director list over at Letterboxd, for Fritz Lang, and updated a number of others.


Here are the movies I've watched and rewatched over the last week or so, and where they place on my year-by-year rankings with links to my short letterboxd reviews, where applicable:


The Big Heat (Fritz Lang) - 6, 1953
The Big Boss (Lo Wei) - 11, 1971
Hapkido (Huang Feng) - 4, 1972
The Paper Chase (James Bridges) - 11, 1973
Robin and Marian (Richard Lester) - 3, 1976

Dirty Ho (Lau Kar-leung) - 5, 1976
Challenge of the Masters (Lau Kar-leung) - 11, 1976
Magnificent Butcher (Yuen Woo-ping & Sammo Hung) - 12, 1979
Dangerous Encounters - First Kind (Tsui Hark) - 6, 1980
The Buddhist Fist (Yuen Woo-ping) - 17, 1980

Dreadnaught (Yuen Woo-ping) - 11, 1981
The Prodigal Son (Sammo Hung) - 16, 1981
An Exercise in Discipline - Peel (Jane Campion) - 17, 1982
Tiger on Beat (Lau Kar-leung) - 26, 1988
Sweetie (Jane Campion) - 15, 1989

An Angel at My Table (Jane Campion) - 7, 1990
The Piano (Jane Campion) - 9, 1993
Drunken Master II (Lau Kar-leung) - 4, 1994
The Portrait of a Lady (Jane Campion) - 12, 1996
Top of the Lake (Jane Campion) - 2013

Summer of Sammo Bonus: Lau Kar-Leung's Dirty Ho


A twist on the master-student narrative, where the student, a petty thief and scoundrel ('Dirty' Ho Jen, played by Wang Yue) has to be tricked into following the master (Gordon Liu), who himself turns out to be a Manchurian prince. The Manchus are almost always the villains in these stories, standing in for all kinds of enemies of China, from the Japanese, to European colonists to Mao's Communists. So we have a hero who isn't very heroic and a master from a reviled class.

Liu's character grows more complicated still. His brothers are all competing to succeed their father, the Emperor, but he doesn't want the job. All he enjoys are antiques, art, good wine and practicing kung fu. He seems to have a moral sense, and this is why he tricks Ho into becoming his student (because he wants to set him on the right path and sees the potential for good in him), but issues of social justice, of pursing the best interests of the Empire, are alien to him. He spends the entire film hiding his identity and power, preferring the decadence of the artistic life and the withdrawal of epic kung fu training sessions to political engagement.


The final moments of the film thus prove a stunning display of the power of class and the resilience of the social order. After finally making it to the imperial palace in Beijing, Ho twice asks the general sent to assassinate Liu who is behind him, which of the other princes ordered the hit job. Both times Liu angrily tells Ho to shut up, that that question is between Liu and the other princes and that 'slaves' are not allowed to ask such things. There is an unbridgeable gulf between Liu and Ho, despite the closeness of the master-student relationship, the dynamic is truly a master-slave one. The film ends with Ho, after helping Liu quickly get properly dressed to meet his father in the reception hall, being flung out of the palace doors, a freeze frame holding indefinitely his expulsion and exclusion from the inner circle of power.

This being a Lau Kar-leung film, the fight scenes are spectacular. The opening credit sequence provides a neat twist on Lau's traditional 'Gordon Liu performs kung fu before a blank screen' opening by opening with a Busby Berkeley-style overhead shot of some thieves gathered around treasure, with first Wang Yue stealing it and then Gordon Liu coming along and fighting and then joining him, a musical kung fu sequence that wordlessly establishes the basic premise of the film we're about to see, with a black and white color scheme (white backdrop, black outfits and credits, further emphasizing the old Hollywood influence.


Several other fights scenes are tremendous, some of Lau and Liu's best work, and Wang gets a couple of group fights, the first a parody-in-advance of Chang Cheh's masterpiece Crippled Avengers which is pretty funny, the second one in which he gets hypnotized by a gang of creepy losers which is not. While Liu's solo fights are nifty, always performed as he's trying to hide the fact that he's fighting, which makes them hilariously passive aggressive in their small movements, the film's best sequences are a trio of group fights. The first comes fairly early in the film where Liu uses Kara Hui as a puppet to fight Ho, without letting on that's he's behind it, the three actors moving beautifully together. The second an ambush when Ho and a wheelchair-bound Liu are attacked by a horde of assassins in an apocalyptic ghost town, a rush of mass movement in a wild, abstract space. The third the film's final battle, where Wang and Liu take on the general (played by the always great Lo Lieh) and two of his minions. The coordination of these sequences is impeccable, multiple actors moving as one, finishing each others movements and extending into the next series of motions fluidly, transcending the staccato rhythm of many a Shaw Brothers kung fu sequence. It’s a testament to Lau's skill and attention to detail as a choreographer, which allows the camera to run for long takes capturing dozens of synchronized movements and interactions between stars and extras alike. The effect is mesmerizing, the frame always filled with more motion than the brain can process, not because of its speed (or the blur of rapid cutting) but because of so much captured intricacy. The takes aren't nearly as long, or as distant, as in the modernist art film, but there's something positively Tati-esque in Lau's approach to filming his action scenes. There’s always something new to see.

Monday, July 01, 2013

Summer of Sammo Index


This is an index of the things I've written this summer on Sammo Hung movies:

Podcasts:

They Shot Pictures #17: Sammo Hung - Jul 08, 2013
The George Sanders Show Episode 10: The Grandmaster and A Touch of Zen - Aug 29, 2013

Long Reviews:

Eastern Condors (Hung, 87) - May 24, 2013
Zu Warriors (Tsui, 01) - May 29, 2013
Warriors Two (Hung, 78) - May 30, 2013
Encounters of the Spooky Kind (Hung, 80) - Jun 01, 2013
Winners & Sinners (Hung, 83) - Jun 04, 2013
Pedicab Driver (Hung, 89) - Jun 06, 2013
The Iron-Fisted Monk (Hung, 77) - Jun 08, 2013
Hapkido (Huang, 72) - Jun 20, 2013
Ashes of Time Redux (Wong, 08) - Aug 26, 2013

Capsules at Letterboxd:

Wheels on Meals (Hung, 84) - May 24, 2013
Enter the Fat Dragon (Hung, 78) - Jun 14, 2013
Twinkle Twinkle Lucky Stars (Hung, 85) - Jun 17, 2013
The Prodigal Son (Yuen, 81) - Jun 26, 2013
Wheels on Meals (Hung, 84) - Jul 09, 2013
Mr. Vampire (Lau, 85) - Jul 15, 2013
A Touch of Zen (Hu, 71) - Jul 17, 2013
Ip Man 2 (Yip, 10) - Aug 22, 2013

And as the Summer of Sammo has expanded to Hong Kong genre and New Wave cinema in general, here are reviews of some Sammo-less movies:

Long Reviews:

The Butterfly Murders (Tsui, 79) - May 31, 2013
Dirty Ho (Lau, 76) - Jun 30, 2013
Intimate Confessions of a Chinese Courtesan (Chor, 72) - Jul 07, 2013
Come Drink With Me (Hu, 66) - Jul 10, 2013
The One-Armed Swordsman (Chang, 67) - Jul 12, 2013
The Spiritual Boxer (Lau, 75) - Jul 15, 2013
Heroes Shed No Tears (Chor, 80) - Jul 16, 2013
Dragon Gate Inn (Hu, 67) - Jul 17, 2013
Heroes Two (Chang, 74) - Jul 22, 2013
The Sentimental Swordsman (Chor, 77) - Jul 23, 2013
Five Shaolin Masters (Chang 74) and Shaolin Temple (Chang 76) - Jul 24, 2013
Return of the One-Armed Swordsman (Chang, 69) - Jul 25, 2013
Heaven Sword and Dragon Sabre Parts One & Two (Chor, 78) - Jul 25, 2013
Vengeance! (Chang, 70) - Jul 27, 2013
The Heroic Ones (Chang, 70) - Jul 29, 2013
Days of Being Wild (Wong, 90) - Aug 16, 2013
Nomad (Tam, 82) - Aug 20, 2013
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (Lee, 00) - Aug 28, 2013
My Heart is that Eternal Rose (Tam, 89) - Sep 02, 2013
Boat People (Hui, 82) - Sep 03, 2013

Capsules at Letterboxd:

Iron Monkey (Yuen, 93) - May 25, 2013
The Chinese Feast (Tsui, 95) - Jun 04, 2013
We're Going to Eat You (Tsui, 80) - Jun 08, 2013
Once Upon a Time in China (Tsui, 91) - Jun 13, 2013
Drunken Master (Yuen, 78) - Jun 13, 2013
Once Upon a Time in China II (Tsui 92) - Jun 14, 2013
Wing Chun (Yuen, 94) - Jun 15, 2013
The Buddhist Fist (Yuen, 80) - Jun 21, 2013
Dreadnaught (Yuen, 81) - Jun 24, 2013
Dangerous Encounters - First Kind (Tsui, 80) - Jun 25, 2013
Drunken Master II (Lau, 94) - Jun 26, 2013
The Big Boss (Lo, 71) - Jun 28, 2013
Challenge of the Masters (Lau, 76) - Jun 29, 2013
Tiger on the Beat (Lau, 88) - Jul 01, 2013
Eight Diagram Pole Fighter (Lau, 84) - Jul 03, 2013
Blood Brothers (Chang, 73) - Jul 04, 2013
Righting Wrongs (Yuen, 86) - Jul 05, 2013
The Miracle Fighters (Yuen, 82) - Jul 08, 2013
Drunken Monkey (Lau, 03) - Jul 08, 2013
The Magic Blade (Chor, 76) - Jul 13, 2013
Boxer Rebellion (Chang, 76) - Jul 20, 2013
The House of 72 Tenants (Chor, 73) - Jul 21, 2013
Shaolin Temple (Chang, 76) - Jul 21, 2013
Heaven Sword and Dragon Sabre (Chor, 78) - Jul 22, 2013
Five Element Ninjas (Chang, 82) - Jul 28, 2013
Raining in the Mountain (Hu, 79) - Aug 04, 2013
Return of the Sentimental Swordsman (Chor, 81) - Aug 12, 2013
Full Contact (Lam, 92) - Aug 18, 2013
Rouge (Kwan, 88) - Aug 20, 2013
He's a Woman, She's a Man (Chan, 94) - Aug 24, 2013
The Sword (Tam, 80) - Aug 24, 2013
The Happenings (Yim, 80) - Aug 26, 2013
After This, Our Exile (Tam, 06) - Aug 27, 2013
A Chinese Ghost Story (Ching, 87) - Aug 31, 2013
Cherie (Patrick Tam, 84) - Sep 08, 2013

Podcast:

The George Sanders Show Episode Four: Duel of Fists (Chang, 71) and Tears of the Black Tiger (Sasanatieng, 00) - Jul 20, 2013


And here are the Summer of Sammo movies I've seen but not yet written about:

Knockabout (Hung, 79) - Jun 06, 2013
Yes, Madam (Yuen, 85) - Jun 07, 2013
My Lucky Stars (Hung, 85) - Jun 10, 2013
Zu: Warriors from the Magic Mountain (Tsui, 83) - Jun 11, 2013
Snake in the Eagle's Shadow (Yuen, 78) - Jun 12, 2013
Dragons Forever (Hung, 88) - Jun 16, 2013
Magnificent Butcher (Yuen & Hung, 79) - Jun 17, 2013
Golden Swallow (Chang, 68) - Jul 12, 2013
As Tears Go By (Wong, 88) - Aug 14, 2013
Full Moon in New York (Kwan, 90) - Aug 18, 2013
Sons of the Good Earth (Hu, 65) - Sep 03, 2013

And because why not, here are some older reviews from the last couple of years' Christmas with the Shaw Brothers:

The Shadow Whip (Lo, 71) - Jan 16, 2011
The Deadly Breaking Sword (Sun, 79) - Jan 16, 2011
Shaolin Intruders (Tang, 83) - Jan 16, 2011
Brave Archer and His Mate (Chang, 82) - Jan 16, 2011
Holy Flame of the Martial World (Lu, 82) - Jan 16, 2011
Journey of the Doomed (Cha, 85) - Jan 16, 2011
The Flying Guillotine (Ho, 75) - Dec 20, 2012
Executioners from Shaolin (Lau, 77) - Dec 21, 2012
Killer Clans (Chor, 76) - Dec 26, 2012
Mad Monkey Kung Fu (Lau, 79) - Dec 27, 2012


And some other old Hong Kong stuff:

Dragon Gate Inn (Hu, 67) - Jan 14, 2010
Ong-Bak 2: The Beginning (Jaa & Rittikrai, 08) - Mar 06, 2010
Red Cliff (Woo, 08) - Apr 04, 2010
Return of the One-Armed Swordsman (Chang, 69) - Jul 27, 2010
Return to the 36th Chamber (Lau, 80) - Aug 21, 2010
The Eight-Diagram Pole Fighter (Lau, 84) - Oct 28, 2010
Crippled Avengers (Chang, 78) - Oct 28, 2010
The Water Margin (Chang, 72) - Oct 28, 2010
Vengeance is a Golden Blade (Ho, 69) - Oct 28, 2010
Have Sword Will Travel (Chang, 69) - Oct 28, 2010
The Wandering Swordsman (Chang, 70) - Oct 28, 2010
All Men Are Brothers (Chang, 75) - Dec 03, 2010
Brothers Five (Lo, 70) - Dec 03, 2010
Disciples of the 36th Chamber (Lau, 85) - Dec 23, 2010
Shaolin Mantis (Lau, 78) - Dec 23, 2010
Swordsman (Hu, 90) - Sep 26, 2012
Swordsman 2 (Ching, 92) - Sep 26, 2012

They Shot Pictures Episode #16: Jane Campion


This week's episode of They Shot Pictures on director Jane Campion is now available. Seema and I talk about An Angel at My Table, The Portrait of a Lady and Top of the Lake with Melissa Tamminga from A Journal of Film. You can download the show or subscribe to it in iTunes over at the They Shot Pictures website. There as well you can find all our past shows, and you can follow us on twitter @TSP_podcast. Next up this weekend is our Sammo Hung episode (discussing Magnificent Butcher, Wheels on Meals and Pedicab Driver), followed by Abbas Kiarostami and the John Ford to round out July. Check out the Upcoming Episodes page for more information.

And speaking of podcasts, The George Sanders Show is now available on iTunes. Our next episode should be up this weekend, discussing Dead Man and Ride Lonesome.